Guèvremont - Protecting diversity
Guèvremont, V. 2022. Protecting diversity: still room to pursue a legitimate public policy objective outside the framework of the Convention. In: Re|Shaping policies for creativity: addressing culture as a global public good, (183-204). Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). ISBN 978-92-3-100503-9
A large majority (84%) of the 25 trade agreements concluded between 2017 and 2020 contain clauses recognizing the specific nature of cultural goods or services and protecting the right of Parties to the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions to take action in the cultural sector.
While 15 of these trade agreements have been concluded exclusively between Parties to the Convention, only one agreement contains an explicit reference to the Convention.
Most of the 25 trade agreements concluded between 2017 and 2020 include provisions on e-commerce and data flow that could have an impact on the implementation of the Convention in the digital environment.
A new generation of trade agreements exclusively related to e-commerce have recently emerged; the incorporation of clauses to preserve the right of signatories to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions in the digital environment would be worth considering in future negotiations.
The Convention receives more attention in non-trade forums than in trade forums, as at least 40 multilateral and regional instruments contain a reference to the Convention.
To date, Parties to the Convention have paid little attention to promoting the objectives and principles of the Convention in international forums dealing with artificial intelligence issues, even though artificial intelligence and recommendation algorithms have the potential to introduce bias and undermine the visibility of local content, and thus the diversity of cultural expressions.
Tax issues also deserve attention, since outdated tax regimes can create significant imbalances between domestic and foreign cultural and creative industries, and add to other kinds of inequality that may impact the diversity of cultural expressions. This is the case when foreign competitors operating online are exempt from domestic fiscal regimes.
Article 16 of the Convention on preferential treatment for developing countries is not widely implemented in trade agreements and other international instruments, with the main exception being co-production agreements that may facilitate access by developing countries to the markets of developed countries.
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Culture and creativity account for 3.1% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 6.2% of all employment. Exports of cultural goods and services doubled in value from 2005 to reach US$389.1 billion in 2019. Besides being one of the youngest and fastest growing economic sectors in the world, new and ongoing challenges also make the creative economy one of the most vulnerable sectors that is often overlooked by public and private investment. The cultural and creative sectors were among the hardest hit by the pandemic, with over 10 million jobs lost in 2020 alone. Public investment in culture has been declining over the last decade and creative professions remain overall unstable and underregulated. Although culture and entertainment are major employers of women (48.1%), gender equality is a distant prospect. Additionally, only 13% of voluntary national reviews of progress towards the 2030 Agenda acknowledge culture’s contribution to sustainable development. Disparities between developed and developing countries are significant, with developed countries leading the trade of cultural goods and services – accounting for 95% of total exports of cultural services.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder that no country alone can forge the protection and promotion of diversity within its territory and beyond. Culture’s value as a global public good must be cherished and preserved for the benefit of present and future generations. Re|Shaping Policies for Creativity – Addressing culture as a global public good offers insightful new data that shed light on emerging trends at a global level, as well as putting forward policy recommendations to foster creative ecosystems that contribute to a sustainable world by 2030 and beyond.
Véronique Guèvremont “Protecting diversity: still room to pursue a legitimate public policy objective outside the framework of the Convention”